(TibetanReview.net, Jun30’26) – Tibet support groups in the Czech and Swiss parliaments have condemned China’s Law on Promoting Ethnic unity and Progress, which is set to come into force on Jul 1, seeing it as a coercive move to assimilate Tibetan and other ethnic groups with the country’s Han majority cultural identity. China defends its move as consolidation of national identity in its modernization drive.
The law should be viewed in the broader context of long-term pressure on the identity, language, culture, and religious life of Tibetans and other ethnic and national groups in the PRC, including Uyghurs, Mongolians, and other communities. Of particular concern is the law’s emphasis on strengthening a unified Chinese national identity, loyalty to the state, and the prioritization of Standard Chinese in education, public services, and other areas of public life, the Office of Tibet, Geneva, Jun 30 cited the Parliamentary Group of Friends of Tibet in the Czech Republic as saying in a statement.
The group has said the law may further weaken the use of Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian, and other minority languages and deepen the gap between formally guaranteed autonomy and the actual protection of the rights of local populations.
The group has also said these minority populations already face restrictions on religious freedom, pressure to assimilate, interference in education, limitations on the public use of minority languages, demographic pressures associated with the deliberate settlement of the majority Han population, and the risk that efforts to preserve one’s identity may be labelled as separatism, extremism, or a threat to state unity, affecting the fundamental elements of their national, cultural, and religious identity.
These pressures are also stated to be reflected in access to land and natural resources, where local communities often have little real opportunity to participate in decisions regarding their use.
The group has also expressed concern that this law may have consequences beyond the borders of the PRC, particularly for diaspora communities and individuals seeking to maintain and promote their language, culture, religion, or national identity, and who may be labelled by Chinese authorities as supporters of separatism. Protecting these communities is therefore important for preserving the genuine meaning of autonomy and the ability of local populations to determine their own future.
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In Berne, the Parliamentary Group for Tibet (PGT) in the Swiss Parliament has issued a strongly-worded statement against the law, saying it entrenches a Han-centred national identity at the expense of Tibetan language, religion, and culture. It is not a unifying measure as claimed but a vehicle for forced assimilation and the systematic erosion of Tibetan identity, Office of Tibet, Geneva, Jun 30 cited the group as saying in another report.
The cross-party group has warned that expanded state control over education and public life under the law will worsen conditions for at least one million Tibetan children already separated from their families through China’s coercive boarding school system.
The group has pledged to back Switzerland’s efforts in international bodies and human rights organisations opposing the law.
Members of the group will bring the issue before the Swiss Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and press the Federal Council to remind Beijing of its obligation to protect Tibetans’ fundamental rights, including language, religion, and cultural identity.
The group has warned that without intervention, Tibetan identity risks being “wiped out within a single generation.”
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Earlier, Duan Yijun, vice minister of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee had said Jun 24 that China’s ethnic work practices had undergone historic transformations and achieved significant accomplishments in recent years and called it Chinese-style modernization.
Speaking at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office on the Law on Promoting Ethnic Solidarity and Progress and China’s work on ethnic affairs, Duan had said the development of all five ethnic autonomous regions in People’s Republic of China — Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Xizang, Xinjiang and Guangxi — had accelerated.
Furthermore, the degree of interaction, exchange, and integration among people from different ethnic groups was unprecedented, he was stated to have noted. The floating population of ethnic minorities in China has reached over 33 million, with more than one-third living in urban and dispersed areas, China;’s online Tibet news service eng.tibet.cn Jun 4 cited Duan as saying.